Tolkien nerd

Chapter III: The Uruk-hai This is my least favorite chapter in The Lord of the Rings. It’s not just because Merry and Pippin, two of my favorite characters, have been captured and treated cruelly by the orcs. It’s the orcs themselves that make me hate this chapter. Of all of Tolkien’s bad guys, the orcs … Continue reading LotR Reread: The Tree is Talking, Merry…

Chapter X- The Breaking of the Fellowship In the shadow of Tol Brandir, above the falls of Rauros, the company must decide if they are going to turn toward the south and head for Gondor and Minas Tirith with Boromir, or if they will turn towards the east and go to Mordor. Aragorn has put … Continue reading LotR Reread: It’s Not You, It’s Me

Chapter III: The Ring Goes South After Elrond adjourns his council, Frodo, Sam, and Bilbo meet up with Merry and Pippin, who think it’s unfair that Elrond is sending Sam on this journey with Frodo. Frodo says it’s not the reward they think it is, but rather a punishment. But Merry informs him that the … Continue reading LotR Reread: Hobbits in Dark Caverns Shouldn’t Throw Stones

IX. At the Sign of the Prancing Pony Bree-land is an island of habitation in the midst of an empty and wild land. There are four other towns besides Bree itself: Staddle, Combe, Archet, and Chetwood. It is inhabited by brown-haired, rather short people who are cheerful and independent. There’s no one around to govern … Continue reading LotR Reread: In Which the Company Meets a Tall, Dark Stranger

Chapter VI- The Old Forest I’ll be the first to admit that I find forests a little creepy. I’ve lived on the Great Plains all my life. We don’t do vast expanses of trees. Hiking through the forests of northern Minnesota and Colorado is eerie enough. How do you know there isn’t a bear … Continue reading LotR Reread: Home is Behind, Weirdness is Ahead

The heat is back on around here. I hope it's summer's last gasp before autumn comes around because I am tired of the heat. It looks like summery temperatures are going to be around for most of the week, though. Yuck. If it weren't for the accompanying humidity I wouldn't be so bothered by it, … Continue reading Sunday Sum-Up

What is The Lord of the Rings? On the surface, The Lord of the Rings is a fantasy tale about Wizards and Elves, magic rings, and a dark lord who seeks to dominate the world. So far, so standard. We, as jaded twenty-first-century readers, have seen this a million times before to the point where … Continue reading LotR Reread: Escaping to Middle-earth

I thought that providing my own history with the works of J.R.R. Tolkien might be helpful when approaching this rereading project, but I thought a long essay where I drone on about myself would quickly grow boring, so I asked a friend to give me some questions relevant to my own experiences with the books … Continue reading LotR Reread: A Personal History with Tolkien Q&A

And like that, it's September already! To be honest, I'm not sorry to see August go. It was a perfectly fine month, but I don't like Summer. Heat and I do not get along, and August always has more than its fair share of heat and humidity. I'm looking forward to September's cooler temperatures … Continue reading August Summary and September Preview